Life. It simply keeps on changing. Moment by moment, different from the smidgen of time before. It changes on a dime. Every corner a hairpin, a barn burner! Sometimes it’s a cliff hanger of struggles. Valleys. Mountains. Barrenness. Strangeness.
Sometimes it’s simply weird!
In the midst of life constantly changing, pieces of small problems and big issues keep popping up! You “get” to handle the mundane, but you “must” handle the strategic needs.
My world has changed dramatically over the past several years. Nothing is the same. It feels topsy-turvey. Whirlwind at times. Demands high, never low.
Have you eve felt like this? Well. I have a thought for you…
It’s boring when everything stays the same!
Yes, there is comfort in routine and mundane, but life is so full of variety. Spice. Adventure!
Think With Me
When I was young and beginning my reading career, I found that the stories I enjoyed most were all about adventure, investigative, and with just enough forward-thinking clues to keep you guessing at what might be happening next. Rejoice! You’ve reached the portion of the book you aimed for!
“The End”.
Some works left you hanging for the next book in a sequel or gave you an opportunity to write your own ending. What do you do next? Wait for the sequel? Be happy with the completion? Or, do you scramble to find your next story of adventure?
While writing this morning, my bluetooth keyboard battery died. In mid-sentence. What to do? Wait. Someone’s leaving the house. The dog needs attention. An alarm clock is going off in the other room. Now the keyboard is not working the way it’s supposed to even with fresh batteries! The coffee’s grown cold!
ARGHHHH!!!!
Solomon says it’s the little foxes that destroy the vineyard! (Solomon 2:15). Or, as I like to say, it’s the piled up small things that weigh us down in the quagmire of life.
It's the piled up small things of life that weigh us down in the quagmire. Or, as Solomon puts it, the little foxes destroy the vineyard! (Solomon 2:15) Click To TweetPerspective
I’ve been preaching about it long enough, but life and all the challenges we face is simply about perspective.
How we see ourselves in the midst of life is often different than the way others see us. Grasping at straws like a floundering person in peril of sinking beneath the waves, sometimes we feel out of control. But to others, well, here’s the key. How we manage ourselves on the inside versus the outside often speaks volumes about our perspective!
Jesus told the pharisees and scribes something that helps me understand this.
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward,
but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”
Matthew 23:27 KJV
Ahhaaaa… Bill Gaither’s song comes to mind. From the inside out…God’s looking at me.
My focus? It’s what we are on the inside that is first most important to God. Feel out of control with your mindset? God can help you with this? Worried about those looks that fade with time? God helps you from the inside to manage the outside to be in his image. No matter your age, or the ravages of time.
The Church
The man with the keys to the kingdom, you know, Peter, he should have had it all together. But the declaration he heard from Jesus… Thou art Peter! Upon this Rock, I will build my church… (Matthew 16:18) It must mean Peter had life handled. From the inside out!
He didn’t. He denied Jesus, hung around the trial on the outskirts, and looked like he would never rise to his potential. After Jesus exited the tomb, a stranger tells those who came to anoint his body one last time, “Tell his disciples…and Peter…Jesus is at Galillee.” (Mark 16:7)
Restoration happens. Jesus’s perspective on Peter is not lost in the moment. Peter preaches the first sermon from the fledgling church (Acts 2), and performs the first miracle after Pentecost (Acts 3), and finally he comprehends that the message of the church is for more than just the chosen ones.
“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”
Acts 10:34-35 (KJV)
For so long, and maybe even through today, it seems that there has been an understanding that God only visited his favor upon a certain people. While it’s true that God wanted everyone to enter into covneant, it was obvious that not everyone would.
Before This
Before Peter had his revelation, the Apostle Paul has his. You know, the road to Damascus. Blinded by the light. Hearing voices. Led to a house, and for several days he agonzied over the revelation. Saul… It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (Acts 9:5) Before long, his healing, and then he’s heard preaching Jesus in the synagogue (Acts 9:20).
How much time between the two events? We are not sure, but it appears to be a shorter time than it would take you or I to come to our senses to declare Christ to this world!
He may have been in the same camp of understanding as Peter was, but to the church in Galatia Paul writes:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:28 (KJV)
Suddenly, the Gospel message rings clearer than ever before. There is no difference between any of us when it comes to the Grace of Jesus Christ. We may be islands of cultural uniqueness, but we find that in Christ, we are all equal.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
Romans 10:12 KJV
Today
Why are we still trying to figure life out? We are so close to our past, but far down the road of our history. Several thousands of years ago, Solomon saw life pretty clearly. It may have been toward the end of his own existence, but clarity speaks.
I returned, and saw under the sun,
hat the race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong,
neither yet bread to the wise,
nor yet riches to men of understanding,
nor yet favour to men of skill;
but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 KJV
I may not truly understand life until I get to the ending, and then it’s probably too late to impact the next generation. Unless. Maybe this is the key. We need to communicate our lessons learned and slowly through the generations, we can tilt the rudder over just enough to get us on course.
Enjoyed another one. I love your writings.